Fiat to manufacture Linea at Ranjangaon

India has been selected as Fiat's manufacturing hub for right-hand drive versions of the Linea sedan. The Tata-Fiat combine, which made the announcement at the global launch of the car here, will start manufacturing and retailing of the car in India by mid-2008 from its Ranjangaon facility in Maharashtra.

The one-lakh capacity plant went on stream earlier last month, when it began producing the Fiat Palio Stile. The Linea model manufactured in the facility will be exported to right-hand drive markets such as South Africa and Australia.

Linea was globally launched with two petrol and two diesel engine versions. The petrol versions will come with a 1.4-litre, 100 bhp, and a 1.4-litre 120 bhp turbocharged mill, while the diesel versions include 1.3 multijet VGT diesel engine in 90 bhp tune, and an automatic gearbox variant. A variant of the multijet diesel engine currently powers the Maruti Suzuki Swift, with the engines being assembled at Maruti's facility at Manesar. Aimed to compete with the likes of Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Skoda Octavia, Linea will be positioned between the upper C-segment and the entry D-segment sedans.

Based on the Grande Punto hatchback that will also be launched in India, the Linea is part of GM's Gamma platform, developed during the GM-Fiat joint venture days. It replaces the Fiat Marea sedan in the international market. Apart from India, Linea will be manufactured in Turkey, China and Brazil. Fiat recently signed a deal with Tata to manufacture and sell a new generation pick-up truck in Argentina for $80 million. Sergio Marchionne, CEO, Fiat, told Business Standard that Fiat and the Tata group combine was exploring more avenues of cooperation.

Tata Motors is also exploring tie-ups with Iveco, Fiat's commercial vehicle arm, in several world markets.